A Love Like War
by Quinnston
Summary: Emma Swan must change the past to avoid the death of someone close to her heart, joined by the help of a certain pirate she's grown quite close to.


**Chapter 1**

_**A/N: Hey, I'm back. I've gone through lots of shit so I didn't exactly have any time to write I Hope You Catch Me. I'm going to be starting a new fanfiction with some of IHYCM's plot. All in all it's going to be a mostly revised version with a different take on it (the plot will move a whole lot faster, trust me). Takes place during Kansas (3x20).**_

* * *

"So yeah I pulled the plug  
but I swore the spark would still be there  
Buried beneath the promises and lies"

* * *

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For saving me."

Emma's lips curved into a small small. "Don't thank me, it was the right thing to do."

Hook approached her cautiously, all of a sudden taking interest at the white linoleum flooring of the hospital. He smirked a bit at the notion of her doing it because it was the "right thing". If she wanted to do the right thing she would have left him there and gone after Zelena instead. Not only did she show that she truly cared about him, but also that he for some reason was deemed more important to her than everyone else. One minute she's at his throat, the next she's begging for him to stay. Emma was quite the challenge.

"Yes of course, the right thing," He said uninterested, staring blankly at the ground. "I presume you won't be taking out Zelena with your ability in making the best decisions." Hook peered up at her, looking for an expression on her unreadable face.

"I won't be needing magic, Killian," Emma frowned, knowing all too well that Zelena was going to succeed if she didn't find out a solution to this soon enough.

"How do you plan on defeating her then?" Killian's demeanor changed into one Emma didn't see very often. One of guilt.

She eyed him curiously, watching his eyes glaze over, his body losing it's usual confident posture and his usual upturned lips turned downwards. He was definitely losing hope, but it still didn't explain why he seemed so guilty. A pirate's feelings wasn't at the top of her priorities though, she'd talk to him later or it'd work itself out exactly how it usually does with him. Never mind all that, the most important thing at the moment was how she would defeat Zelena now that she didn't have her magic. Honestly, it was pretty much futile. All of the planning and training was essentially in vain because she had feelings for a certain pirate with a hook for a hand. _Wait, what?_ For the love of god, no matter how hard Emma tried to get Killian out of her mind, he always wound up finding his way back into it. There wasn't much point trying to come up with a solution to an tricky dilemma anyway, especially with thoughts of a man named Killian Jones racing through her brain. Yeah, it was all his fault that Zelena was going to win. Of course it was. Killian and his stupid face.

All that Captain Hook hate was going to have to wait for another time though because David came zipping past them yelling something along the lines of, "Hurry up you two idiots, they took my son!"

A wave of guilt rushed across Killian's face. Now he was starting to worry her, it's as if the word guilt was written all over his face in permanent marker. Something was clearly wrong with him. Emma wasn't going to waste any time with it, there were bigger problems at the moment. Either way, she still felt rotten for not bothering to ask him what was wrong, or not so much as even thinking of what could be so bad that would be plaguing him with this much guilt. So she trudged along, tugging at his sleeve to motion for him to run down the empty halls of the hospital with her.

They raced across the lobby of the hospital, their shoes squeaking on the shiny white floor. The door opened automatically and as the pirate and the savior both stepped outside, a gust of wind rushed up to meet them. Emma sighed in relief, unlocking the door of her car. She plopped herself down onto the driver's seat, while Killian did the same on the other side. Soon enough they were zooming out of the hospital parking lot and on their way to where Zelena was.

"So?" Emma asked, half expecting an answer from Killian, half expecting a drive in tension filled silence.

"You should have let me drown." He said simply, no further explanation added to his blunt reply. Then again she didn't expect him to answer her anyway.

On cue, she snapped at him, "Yeah, and you should have told me the truth! I guess things don't work out how we want them to, do they?" Emma paused, taking a deep breath in and exhaling loudly in attempts to calm herself down. "You would know, you're Captain Hook."

The rest of the ride there was filled with eerie silence that Emma found unsettling considering the fact that Captain Hook was riding shotgun right beside her. To say the least, it was extremely odd. Killian didn't usually get this worked up about things, especially if she had her fits of despair at times. Knowing Emma somewhat well, he would know this was her usual tantrum and shouldn't get too aggravated over this small outburst by her. For some reason he was and she didn't have a clue as to why this could be. Perhaps he was just having a bad day? Though who could blame him, he basically died and indirectly stole the powers of the only person capable of stopping Zelena. Not to mention the fact that this was Storybrooke. No surprise there. Then again, it was expected to have rough days in Storybrooke. Witches, evil queens, lying traitors, Lost Boys and whatever the hell else was thrown at them, they had always found a way to defeat the opposing force.

Before thinking any further or having time to improvise on something at that, both Emma and Killian had skidded to a stop in front of a sketchy looking barn structure. Typical, typical, typical. If the worn out barn didn't give it away, the bright light flowing through the cracks and holes in the the building would have given it away.

Emma slammed her door shut, jogging towards the rotting double doors made of some type of smelly wood. She was then followed by the sound of Killian shutting his door and him running after her. He caught up to her and looked up to see a stern look plastered onto Emma's face. No, impassive, that was the word. An impassive look on her face seemingly showing that no one would mess with her. Again, typical Emma Swan. Putting her so called indestructible wall built around her so high that not even the hugest giant would be able to peer over. Lies, lies, lies. Emma shut people out too quickly and too suddenly to be able to even attempt at breaking down those walls. Then she came crawling back and everyone just sort of accepted the fact that this was who Emma was. Their relationship took one step forward and next thing he knew it, they were taking two steps back. This love was a battle he would never win. A love like war.

"Sorry, for whatever I did wrong, Swan," Killian had for some reason apologized to her. If anyone was going to say sorry to someone, it was going to be Emma out of all people, to Killian. Not all things work out perfectly like a cookie cut out and it ended up with him apologizing for nothing in particular.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," she replied bluntly, gaining a steady look from him.

He stepped closer to her, placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her directly in the eye, "I may not. You're right though, Swan. I could have told you about my lips, we could have figured something out like we normally do," Killian rapidly glanced downwards, sighing over dramatically for the situation at hand. "At the time, I didn't think the loss of Henry or someone close to your heart would benefit you in any way possible. So I decided it would be best to keep it to myself. I just didn't want to see you hurting any more than you already are, Swan."

This seemed to knock some sense into Emma and made her realize where Killian was coming from. She nodded, keeping a steady gaze on him. "Thank you," she muttered under her breath sincerely. She continued on with her not so intricate plan to destroy the Wicked Witch. "Listen, I don't know how we're going to do this, but-" Emma got cut short when Zelena flung open the stench filled doors.

"Aw, am I ruining some romantic moment between the two of you?" She chuckled, her tone one of mock sympathy. Rumplestiltskin was sure to follow behind her, his hands behind his back all formal like.

With ease, she flicked her finger and Killian went flying, crashing into the wall of the wooden barn with a loud bang. It didn't faze him for more than a mere few seconds since he got up without much struggling. In noticing this, Zelena picked him up in the air with her hand forming a choking hold. Killian gagged and choked out for air.

"Let go," Emma demanded.

"Why, don't you want to defeat me instead? Go ahead, I'm free," Zelena stretched her arms out opening her body up. She didn't worry over what Emma would be choosing though. It was obvious she was far more concerned with the pirate than defeating her. Of course she was right, again.

"I don't care, just let him go," Her voice quivered in the slightest. After all that happened today, she didn't want to lose him after she gave up everything for him. It wasn't supposed to happen that way. It wasn't fair. Life wasn't fair either way. Whatever she chose would lead to serious consequences.

"Yeah?" With the snap of fingers, Killian landed on the ground with a thud. Zelena and Rumple disappeared without a trace into a veil of green smoke.

Emma chose Killian.


End file.
